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The Top 10 Best Long-Term NHL Contracts

The NHL is a league that is notorious for its ugly, bad, and sometimes mind-boggling contracts.

With all of the bad contracts seemingly always in the headlines (bad news makes for better stories), it’s easy to forget that even the NHL has its fair share of deals that can be considered gems.

For this list, because it’s harder for teams to sign good long-term deals, only current players who are on deals consisting of six or more years apply.

Honourable mentions: Taylor Hall (7 years, $42M total, $6M cap hit, injury prone but an elite offensive talent), Tyler Seguin (6 years, $34.5M total, $5.75M cap hit, party animal wildcard with outstanding offensive flair), James Neal (6 years, $30M total, $5M cap hit, put up near point per game numbers with Penguins but is now is part of a more defensive team in Nashville ) and James van Riemsdyk (6 years, $25.5M total, $4.25M cap hit, with the Leafs he has developed into everything that the Flyers thought he could be).

So, without further ado, here are the top 10 long-term contracts in the NHL.

Giroux is a steady as they come, at a position most valuable to teams, when you look at both his ability to avoid injuries and his offensive production.

Missing only four games (290 of a possible 294) in the last five years since becoming a full-time NHL’er, Giroux has managed to amass 303 total points during that span; that’s good for 1.04 points per game.

This contract keeps him in Philly through the prime of his career at an expensive, yet deserved price tag.

When you consider Patrick Kane, who plays a less valuable forward position with around the same point production, will be making $2M a year more than Giroux, you can see the true value to this deal.

Had Giroux made it to free agency, he undoubtedly would have gotten this deal or even more money from another team.

Despite a higher cap hit and a slightly lower point per game average this past year, Kopitar makes this list over players like Hall and Seguin for one simple reason (well two reasons), he was the number one centre on two Stanley Cup winning Kings’ teams.

Of course, his point totals are nothing to scoff at either, having totaled at least 60 points in every one of his 8 NHL seasons (except for the shortened lockout season) and 70 or more points in 5 of those seasons.

Throw in the fact that he is one of the best two-way centres in the league and is nearly a point per game player in the playoffs, added with the fact he makes less money than lesser players such as Alex Semin and the Sedins (who disappeared last season), and you have got yourself a solid player at a solid value.

As one of the top three two-way centres in the NHL (Toews first, Datsyuk second, then Bergeron), he is outstanding defensively and the most consistent face-off man on the planet.

An extremely underrated player, especially offensively, Bergeron has tallied at least 60 points two of his last three seasons.

Compare this deal to the $7M per year one that a slightly less consistent centre in Paul Stastny got with St. Louis, and the fact that Dave Bolland is only making $1M less over the next five years, and you see the Bruins worked some magic here, keeping him in Boston for what will likely be his entire career.

McDonagh comes in fifth on this list because of a few different reasons.

First, he is the #1 defenseman on a team that just made the Stanley Cup final.

Second, the Rangers’ signed him to this deal, similar to the ones that other young skilled players sign, at a later age because he attended college. This means that because he was signed at an older age, the Rangers get him until he is 29 (usual end of someone’s prime) instead of 26 or 27.

Lastly, McDonagh scored 14 goals last season, doubling his previous career high, proving he is more of a two-way defenceman than originally thought.

Let me say this first, the ONLY thing keeping Crosby out of the #1 spot in this list is the relation between injuries and time remaining on his deal.

Crosby is the best player on the planet, without a doubt. The fact that Pittsburgh got him under contract for a cap hit of only (only?!) $8.7M per season is purely genius when you compare his career numbers and his skill to other players.

Only five players come in with a higher cap hit (Toews and Kane at $10.5M starting in 2015-16, Ovechkin and Malkin at $9.5M, Subban at $9M) but there is no doubt that Crosby should be at the top of that list.

If Kane is worth $10.5M per season, shouldn’t that put Crosby at at least $12M?

Brilliant work by Pittsburgh, just brilliant.

Hopefully the injuries disappear and Crosby can continue to shine well into his late 30’s.

LA certainly knows how to retain their stars at a valuable number. First Kopitar at #7, now Doughty at #1, and cases could be made for Dustin Brown, Jonathan Quick and Marian Gaborik.

Doughty is an absolute beast and in many peoples opinion, the most well rounded defenseman in the NHL.

Despite not putting up elite offensive numbers during the regular season since 2009-10 when he had 59, Doughty can seemingly turn on the offensive tap come playoff time. During the Kings’ two Stanley Cup runs, Doughty was a major part, putting up 34 points in 46 games.

Still just 24 years old, Doughty’s best years are still ahead of him; and that’s saying something for a guy who’s won two Stanley Cups, two Olympic Gold Medals, a World Junior Championship and a Norris Trophy nomination.